I Hike to Write: Nature-Inspired Writing
  • Home
  • A Brief Bio
  • Blog: I Hike to Write
  • Contact
  • Stories About Mom's Last Days

More Colors on the Land

4/25/2017

2 Comments

 
PictureYellow Fritillary (Fritillaria pudica)

​
A glorious little flower found early in the spring amongst the sage and bunchgrass is the yellow fritillary or yellow bell, Fritillaria pudica. It’s a member of the Lily Family (Liliaceae) and it blooms in the grasslands and ponderosa pine country.

You can tell it’s in the Lily Family because the veins on its leaves all run parallel and its flower parts are in threes - three petals and three sepals. But the sepals, which in most plant families are green, leafy structures that protect the flower in bud stage and cup the flower once it blooms, look exactly like the petals with the same coloration. Botanists call them collectively, tepals. 

Yellow bell nods its flower downward, its tepals forming an inverted cup. The entire plant is edible and it was once a main food source for native people. If you’re lucky, you may see the chocolate lily blooming at the same time, but its mottled color, makes it harder to spot. The yellow bell bloom is brief so if flowers make you smile, take a walk in the bunchgrass and see if you can spot some. Happy hunting!

Picture




​Prairie Star (Lithophragma spp.), is in the Saxifrage Family (Saxifragaceae) and is one of my favorites because of its understatement. There are several different species common in our area . They stand eight to eighteen inches high with leaves low on the plant, so all you notice when you come upon it in the fields is its starlike creamy flowers floating above the earth.

Some species of Prairie Star reproduce by cloning from tiny maroon bulbs that are nestled in the axils of the leaves or branches. These little bulbs will germinate once the original plant falls to the ground.

PicturePrairie Smoke leaves (Geum triflorum)
If you see these leaves while you're hiking, they belong to Prairie Smoke, or what some refer to as Old Man's Whiskers, due to the nature of its seed head. Right now its leaves are coming out all over the hillsides. I'll tell you more about this plant once it starts blooming. 

I'd like to be able to recognize all the different stages of the most common plants that grow in our area, but sadly, my brain doesn't completely cooperate. Each year I have to reteach myself. So I make a game of guessing what plant belongs to what leaves or buds as they appear. As the season rolls on and the plants leaf out and bloom and go to seed, I see how accurate my guess was. Challenging oneself to gather more details about the plants broadens the story they tell. It's fun. I highly recommend it. FYI - kids always surpass adults with this memory game so don't be too hard on yourself if you are over 40 and can remember much! 

2 Comments
Tanya link
4/25/2017 09:44:35 pm

This is lovely, thank-you! I hiked out back with the dogs today but forgot my camera. I saw blooms and shoots and for the first time felt like spring is here... and she won't leave us. Great post!

Reply
Randi link
5/1/2017 06:53:17 am

Hi Tanya, Thanks for leaving a comment! This is for sure a lovely time of year - we are so darn lucky to live in this part of the world, eh?

Congrats on finishing your new book - the 3rd!! You are prolific and fun!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author


    I have been a dirt monkey for as long as I can recall - hiding in the rabbit runs woven throughout dogwood thickets near my childhood home in Western New York, winter camping in a tipi in New Hampshire, living 3/4 of a mile up a trail next to a Northern California wilderness, and now living in Western Montana where my husband, Juan, and I create our art and enjoy the many wild places.   

    Archives

    May 2020
    April 2020
    June 2018
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015

    Categories

    All
    Breast Cancer
    Creativity
    Death And Dying
    Downsizing
    Energy Efficiency
    Fall Colors
    In Love With Your Dog
    Living On The Road
    Living Small
    Living Up A Mountain Trail
    Losing Everything
    Making Room For Time
    Purging
    Simplifying Life
    Spring
    Struggling With Attachment
    Summer
    The Camp Fire
    Tiny Home
    Voluntary Simplicity
    Wildfires
    Wildflowers
    Wildlife
    Winter
    Winter's Meditations

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • A Brief Bio
  • Blog: I Hike to Write
  • Contact
  • Stories About Mom's Last Days